The properties of paraffinic rich feeds render them useful in the manufacture of process oils. As is well known in the art, process oils are used in a wide variety of industrial applications. For example, they are used in processing natural and synthetic rubbers for a number of reasons such as reducing the mixing temperature during processing of the rubber and preventing scorching or burning of the rubber polymer when it is being ground down to a powder, or modifying the physical properties of the finished rubber and the like.
End-users of such process oils desire oils with increased solvency as indicated by a lower aniline point. Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a process oil that has a lower aniline point and consequently increased solvency above what could be obtained from paraffinic distillates alone, by using paraffinic distillates in admixture with their coproduced extracts.
Due to the decline in the availability of naphthenic feeds, paraffinic distillates are being substituted for portions or all of some naphthenic distillates since the demand for higher solvency process oils is still increasing. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide process oils with increased solvency using lesser amounts of paraffinic rich feeds.